ALBUQUERQUE, N. Mex. (CBS LAS VEGAS) – A New Mexico family wants to know why they weren’t notified by police that he was dead.

Instead they found out about his death 5 days later, when his daughter was reading an online story, reports KOAT-TV.

Jay Vanblarcom was walking when he was hit by a car near his apartment in early October, according to an Albuquerque police report.

But authorities never contacted his family.

Jan Vanblarcom reported her husband missing, but police apparently never made the connection to the accident victim.

A police official says Vanblarcom had an out of state driver’s license and that may have complicated efforts to locate his family.

But his wife calls it inexcusable and says she keeps getting the runaround from city officials.

“They’ve all passed the buck,” she tells KOAT, as she clutched the American flag that draped his coffin. “One step at a time, because I want to talk to him. I want to know that his last day was full of love”

The driver of the vehicle has not been cited. Police say it was an accident.